Traditional Western style saddles have been connected with the belly girth using a leather strap or saddle cinch which is fastened to a first ring hanging at the end of a strap connected to the saddle, threaded through a second ring connected at one end of the belly girth, again looped through each of the rings, tightened, and tied in a knot around the first ring. By looping the strap through each of the rings twice, a theoretical 4:1 mechanical advantage is achieved which makes it easier for the rider to tighten the belly girth and saddle when pulling on the free end of the strap before it is tied to the first ring. Despite efforts to employ modern strapping materials and fasteners such as buckles, leather saddle cinches which are tied to the saddle ring are almost exclusively used and preferred by most Western style riders. This is so even though the use of leather strapping has many disadvantages.
One obvious disadvantage with leather is that it tends to stretch while under tension during use. Also, exposure to weather, such as high or low temperatures, sunlight, rain, snow, and high or low humidity, affects leather, causing it to shrink or expand, depending on the particular conditions to which it is exposed. As a consequence, it may be necessary to readjust the tension on the cinch strap merely on account of the properties of the leather strap. This is significant because, with leather saddle cinches, the rider must demount in order to adjust the tension on the belly girth and saddle. In addition to disrupting the ride and taking away from the riders time, demounting to readjust the tension on the cinch strap and remounting thereafter increases the potential for injury, as most injuries associated with riding a horse occur during mounting or dismounting. Another disadvantage with leather strap cinches is that the leather deteriorates with use and with exposure to various weather conditions. As a result, equine outfitters and riders must depend on their observations, experience and judgment to determine when to replace the cinch on account of leather deterioration to prevent a failure from occurring during a ride. A further disadvantage with conventional leather cinches is that it can be difficult and time consuming, especially for a neophyte rider, to properly tension and tie the cinch strap. Finally, leather is a relatively expensive material.
Attempts to overcome some of the disadvantages with leather cinch straps have included using polymeric strapping or webbing comprising a fabric made from polymeric fibers, such as polypropylene or nylon. Such materials are relatively inexpensive, substantially unaffected by weather, exhibit very little stretching under load, and are extremely durable. Accordingly, it was believed that the use of polymeric strapping in place of leather would reduce the need for adjusting tension during a ride, because the polymeric strapping would not be expected to shrink or expand. While the above advantages were realized in a technical sense, the lubricous qualities of polymeric strapping caused the knot used to tie the free end of the strap to the saddle ring to loosen during a ride. As a result, the use of polymeric strapping in place of leather did not significantly reduce the need for demounting to readjust the tension around the saddle, saddle cinch and belly girth, but instead, was believed to actual increase the need for adjusting tension during a ride. Consequently, the mere substitution of polymeric strapping in place of leather, in an otherwise traditional saddle cinch, has not met with approval by equine outfitters and riders.
In order to eliminate the need for tying the cinch strap to the saddle ring, buckles have been used. The use of buckles in saddle cinches makes it easier to connect the saddle with the belly girth, and allows quicker adjustment or readjustment of the tension. However, known saddle cinches of this type have generally employed conventional buckles having a frame and one or more tongues pivotally connected to the frame, with the tongue(s) passing through an opening(s) at the free end of the cinch strap. This arrangement has many serious disadvantages. One disadvantage is that the load tension is not uniformly distributed across the width of the strap in the area of the buckle, but is instead focused on the area immediately adjacent the opening through which the tongue passes through the strap. The tongue hole creates a discontinuity in the strapping, compromising its integrity of the cinch strap, and the uneven distribution of forces focused in the area immediately adjacent to the tongue hole can have a severely adverse effect on the inherently high strength and excellent durability properties of the polymeric strapping. Another disadvantage with known saddle cinches having a buckle with one or more tongues is that the cinch strap can only be tightened in discrete increments corresponding to the available tongue openings in the strap. Also, it is generally necessary to pull the strap slightly tighter than desired to compensate for the slack which occurs when the tongue is rotated from the position in which the free end of the tongue is first inserted through the strap to the position in which the free end of the tongue engages the frame of the buckle. Known saddle cinches for connecting the free end of the cinch strap to the saddle have employed a design which allows the cinch strap to be threaded through the saddle and girth rings only once. As a result, such cinches do not achieve the theoretical 4:1 mechanical advantage of traditional saddle cinches. Consequently, saddle cinches with buckles have not met with widespread approval among equine outfitters and riders.
A common disadvantage with all known saddle cinches, including traditional leather strap cinches, polymeric strap cinches, and cinches having a buckle, is that a rider cannot adjust the strap tension while on the horse, but must instead dismount, make the desired adjustment, and remount. Such adjustments involve time and effort, and detract from the enjoyment of the riding experience. As a result, some riders may decide not to make an appropriate adjustment when needed. A decision not to make a needed adjustment could put the safety of the rider at risk. For example, regardless of the characteristics of the saddle cinch, it may become necessary to tighten the cinch strap to compensate for settling and compression of the saddle and saddle pad during riding. A failure to make an appropriate adjustment could result in the saddle sliding away from its proper position on the back of the horse and this could cause injury to the rider. As another example, it may become necessary to loosen the cinch strap to compensate for expansion of the chest of the horse during riding, on account of the horse requiring more air during exercise than during rest. If the cinch strap is not loosened in such case, the horse may experience discomfort and react violently, possibly causing injury to the rider. On the other hand, mounting and dismounting are relatively risky actions as compared with normal riding. Another disadvantage with being unable to adjust the cinch strap tension while in the saddle is that the rider must estimate how much the strap should be overtightened to compensate for compression of the saddle and saddle pad when the rider is in the saddle. Because of the difficulty in accurately estimating this effect, it is extremely difficult to achieve a highly accurate tension in which the saddle is secure, but which is not so tight as to cause objectionable discomfort to the horse. A relative disadvantage of having to adjust the saddle cinch strap tension while standing next to the horse as compared with being able to adjust the tension while in the saddle is that it is easier and more natural to tension a strap by pulling upwardly from the saddle than it is by pulling upwardly while standing on the ground. Clearly, it would be desirable to provide means for allowing the cinch strap to be adjusted without dismounting.
A further disadvantage with known saddle cinches is that the rider cannot quickly, easily and safely release excess tension in an emergency in which the horse suddenly becomes upset or violent on account of discomfort due to excess tension between the saddle and girth.